Vickie, everyone's perspective about cheating is different, and that's something you have to decide for yourself. My primary concern in my previous post was to make sure that no newbies on Induction get the idea that sweetened chocolate is OK or could be eaten regularly!

That said, yes, I think the rules are more flexible as one moves toward maintenance, or depending on one's own body; some people can tolerate more fruit or dairy than others, and as you note, the sugar alcohol reactions are quite varied. BUT... I don't think that refined, high-GI carbs such as sugar should form a regular part of any LC eating plan, period. It's cheating, and I personally don't think cheating on a regular basis -- say, once or twice a week -- is a good idea. There are much less damaging and equally tasty substitutes available in the form of low-carb chocolate, so I don't get why regular doses of real sugar should be necessary to help you make this a permanent WOE. If you have to have something sweet, try a Pure Delite bar, or some of the new SF Reese's or Hershey's instead -- all of those are indistinguishable taste-wise from the real McCoy.

Mind you, that's my opinion, not holy writ. I just think refined carbs are bad for you and should be strenuously avoided except in small doses on rare occasions (e.g. every two or three months, not every week or two). To me, routine consumption of pure sugar, even in smaller doses, isn't what a permanent LC WOE is about. I think it's a slippery-slope thing, and it's very easy to get a lot farther down the slope than you realize at the time. So for me, sugar/flour are "bad" foods, and I am being bad when I eat them, and I will look bad if I am bad all the time. Yes, it's simplistic, but sometimes that's more effective than nuance.